having the low down blues and goin
into a restraunt to eat.
you sit at a table.
the waitress smiles at you.
she’s dumpy. her ass is too big.

I can remember starving in a
small room in a strange city
shades pulled down, listening to
classical music
I was young I was so young it hur

Making love in the sun, in the mor
in a hotel room
above the alley
where poor men poke for bottles;
making love in the sun

“Chinaski, you got a following in
Denver...”
“yeah?”
“yeah, I got a magazine and I wan
poems from you...”

call it the greenhouse effect or w
but it just doesn’t rain like it u
I particularly remember the rains
depression era.
there wasn’t any money but there w

if you’re going to try, go all the
way.
otherwise, don’t even start.
if you’re going to try, go all the
way.

each man must realize
that it can all disappear very
quickly:
the cat, the woman, the job,
the front tire,

they found him walking along the f
all red in
front
he had taken a rusty tin can
and cut off his sexual

the critics now have me
drinking champagne and
driving a BMW
and also married to a
socialite from

when you’re young
a pair of
female
high-heeled shoes
just sitting